wottenad

Make sure the camera is wired to an accessory power source – it sounds like it is now wired to a reverse light power source, so it only stays on while in reverse.

You can grab the reverse light output at the left I/P Junction Block (under the square plastic cover between the e-brake and foot brake pedal). It will be the dark blue wire in the upper right position in the upper right (light gray) plug.

You will not lose video in the mirror if you only tap into those wires, and the video signal is strong enough to support both monitors w/o any problems. If for some reason you wanted to kill the mirror monitor, just cut (or de-pin) the blue wire wire in pin 9: The most reliable place to grab the reverse trigger is at the junction block (under big black cover to the left of the brake pedal) - it's the dark blue wire in the upper right pin in the upper right plug (gray).

The small pins in the junction block take .110 female spades to slide over them...

Or get under the truck and look about where your knees would be if you're sitting in the front seat...

Cover your cables in plastic split loom like the factory does and you won't have any problems at all – your cable runs will look like factory stuff and they will be very well protected...

Using the floor grommets is absolutely a great idea because you have easy access from the top and the bottom and they are extremely easy to seal up once you are done passing through your cables. Contrast that to passing anything through the firewall, where it is always extremely difficult to seal the hole or grommet from leaks...

This is for a 2010 Tahoe, but the Sierra should be the same - this show both navi and mirror wiring:

The aftermarket camera is definitely better and can be bolted in and wired to the OGM-1 in a half hour. With the current "10-28-11" firmware on the OGM-1, the camera only needs an accessory power and ground connection (do yourself a favor and extend the the power and ground leads for the camera into the cab and connect at the junction block to the left of the brake pedal (fourth port down on the left - ACC power is bottom left, pin 8 - ground is upper right pin #1 in this port). The video output on the aftermarket camera is standard RCA, which plugs into the Advent. You'll have to fabricate a harness for the factory camera for the salter by cutting the harness on the CAMERA side of the weatherproof plug under the truck, then extending all four wires that go to the factory camera as long as they need to be. You'll then be able to unplug the camera when you're not using it. Depending on your truck, you can use these schematics to verify your wires:

We're talking to Advent about it (in fact, just sent an email today reiterating our preference!) - it's definitely on the wishlist for future firmware updates...

I wanted to add a couple photos illustrating the quality that you can expect out of the factory camera on the NBS GM trucks when you wire them to the Advent navi (or any other navi or A/V deck for that matter) by showing closeup shots of how the factory tailgate camera looks on both the factory mirror display and the Advent navi and compared to an aftermarket camera that costs a fraction of the factory's price. Although the factory camera is passable when viewed on the mirror, it looks like ass when you view it on any high resolution panel. It's kind of surprising that GM could actually source a camera with such a low quality image, but if you only have to show it on a 3.5" screen, I guess you don't have to worry too much about image quality. However, when you wire this camera to the Advent, the flaws in image quality immediately become apparent: the overall resolution is pretty terrible and color fidelity is terrible as well. The resolution is so poor that it almost makes it look out of focus. Does it show obstacles? Of course, but depending on what you're counting on the camera display to show you in fine detail, you may not be able to see it well because it will be so fuzzy. Bottom line is that if I had the factory camera already installed, it's highly doubtful I would pull it out for an aftermarket camera. BUT, if I was buying a new truck and had the ability to delete the rear camera in favor of an aftermarket unit, I'd do it in a heartbeat... Here are a few photos showing what you can expect in each scenario - factory mirror display, factory camera wired to an Advent, and aftermarket camera wired to an Advent: A closeup of the factory camera displayed on the factory mirror: Here's the same camera displayed on the Advent rear camera screen: Here's one of our aftermarket cameras installed (still taken from HD video):

We've had multiple questions regarding the connection of the factory rear camera to aftermarket navi headunits, particularly the Advent OGM-1 navi, so we decided to document the absolute easiest way to make this connection in the 2011 Silverado equipped with the camera in the tailgate and display in the mirror. This MAY be correct for 2010 & 2012 vehicles as well, but always check first - I can't be responsible if you THINK it's right and make your connections without checking first... The factory wiring for the mirror runs up the left A pillar, and has a nice convenient connection at the bottom edge of the dash just above the left kick panel: If you peel back the wrap on the harness, you'll expose a white and blue wire in the black plug: The white wire is camera video positive and the blue wire is camera video negative: To connect to your navi's rear camera input, just take a six foot RCA cable, cut off one end and strip the insulation exposing the shield and center conductor. The shield will connect to the blue wire, the center conductor will connect to the white wire. We suggest soldering these for the best and most reliable connection, but 3M T-Taps (shown) will work fine too. Stay away from the cheesy kind of wire taps that have the flap that folds over and locks the connection. We use 3M style T-Taps (model 351 if anyone's interested), and don't have any issues as long as you use the right gauge. If you don't use these, either solder your connections (preferred) or strip the factory wire and connect bare wire to bare wire and tape it up. ADVENT OGM-1 NOTES: Currently, since the backup camera screen on the deck comes on as soon as the input senses video, when the vehicle goes into reverse, the camera input will light up and stay on as long as the camera stays on. This may be up to 15 seconds AFTER the vehicle is taken out of reverse. If you want more control over this process, you can either rewire the rear camera's power source or wait until the next firmware update comes out (soon I'm told, and it's DEFINITELY the preferred method). If you want to rewire the camera power source, here's the schematic for the camera circuit - use at your own risk: Good luck! Walt www.adcmobile.com